branditofrito

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Sep 23, 2011
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Hi,
I am a first time PC builder looking for some advice on building a competent gaming machine. Games I am looking to play are Shogun Total War, Deus Ex, BFBC 3, and Skyrim. I have a decent 24" 1080 Acer monitor (Acer H243H) which I will be looking to play these on for now, so I am looking for a GPU setup that can handle that resolution at acceptable frame rates with max detail. That being said, I would like to upgrade to a dual monitor or large format, higher resolution setup later, so I would like to be able to add a second or third GPU to allow for this. I have looked around at other builds on this website and think I have assembled a decent starting point. Here it goes (with some more comments):

Case: IN WIN BUC Mid tower (will I be able to fit multiple high end GPU's in this ting?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108395

Storage: Western Digital 1TB 7200RPM 6Gb/s (I probably won't need obscene amounts of storage),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136767

Optical drive: Asus 24x DVD burner (don't think I want/need blu ray), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

SSD: OCZ Agility 3 120GB SATA III (Is this the ideal size for an OS and a few games?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227726

CPU: i5-2500k (I have read all over this site that the 2600k doesn't offer much more performance for gaming.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1866 (Is this more memory than I need? I feel like I might as well for the price.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231456

Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 (I like the NF200 bridge allowing me to go 3SLI for the future. I know it is one of the more expensive boards, but I think it has the features to justify it.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269

CPU cooler: ZALMAN 100mm (Really no clue if this is any good.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019

PSU: Cooler Master 1000W Modular (I think I want to stick with modular just because it seems more convenient. I chose 1000 so I can upgrade in the future. Or will it be dead by the time I want to upgrade?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171049

GPU: MSI N580GTX Lightning Xtreme Edition 3GB (Sure to be the most contentious point...I have seen a couple comments about 3GB cards actually hurting FPS on single monitor setups due to the additional latency. Is this true? Is one of these enough to do what I would like? Will I be able to add one or two more of these in the future given the rest of my build?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127589

I know I have asked a lot of questions, but I feel like they are all very important to allow be to reap the greatest benefit for the dollars I am about to spend. Any help is greatly appreciated. I am a total novice and am hoping all the experts out there can steer me straight.

Regards,
Brandon






 

008Rohit

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Samsung Spinpoint F3 is a cheaper and faster drive.

HAF 922 is a nice case.

Will you 3way SLI 580's? but why?

Extreme4 Gen3 - saves money

CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ - best bang for the buck air cooler

3GB MSI Lightning is good for a single card. I recommend 1.5GB ones for SLI.

This PSU for 3 GTX 580's : www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139014
 

branditofrito

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I suppose by the time I am adding that third 580, I might as well overhaul with whatever the latest and greatest GPU is. So no I probably would stop at 2 SLI. Any other thoughts on that? The Extreme7 allows me to have two GPU's operating @ x16. I thought that to be worth the price difference. Is that not so? Also, why are the 1.5GB cards better for SLI than the 3GB? I will check out the HAF 922. Thank you.
 
If you plan on going with a triple monitor set up, then look at a gtx 580 3GB card. If not, the 1.5GB cards will do just fine. Here's a few idea's to look at. Also Windows 5 combo's with the 2500K to save you another $15 if you need an o/s. I would go with 8GB of RAM for now...if you ever feel the need to add more...doubtful though, then add another 8GB.

Stay away from Cooler Master psu's, and OCZ SSD's. The first one sucks, and the second one is full of bugs. There's a firmware update for those Crucial SSD's that give it a 20% speed boost.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139009 $129.99 - $114.99 after mail-in rebate card FREE SHIPPING
Corsair Carbide Series 500R Black Steel structure with molded ABS plastic accent pieces ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

or that same case but in white....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010 $129.99 - $114.99 after mail-in rebate card FREE SHIPPING
Corsair Carbide Series 500R White Steel structure with molded ABS plastic accent pieces ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

or...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139008 $99.99 - $89.99 after mail-in rebate card FREE SHIPPING
Corsair Carbide Series 400R Graphite grey and black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.732099 $683.98 FREE SHIPPING
CORSAIR Professional Series HX1050 1050W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Power Supply
MSI N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269 $279.99
ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 $219.99 FREE SHIPPING
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065 $29.99 FREE SHIPPING
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.696126 $68.48 $5 off w/ promo code EMCKAHH23, ends 9/28
LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442 $196.99 FREE SHIPPING
Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Some good RAM to check out....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186 $52.99 FREE SHIPPING
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9

or...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428 $51.99 FREE SHIPPING
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

or...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314 $51.99 FREE SHIPPING
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

or...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226191 $54.99 FREE SHIPPING
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996995

or...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226219 $53.99 FREE SHIPPING
Mushkin Enhanced Radioactive 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 997005
 

branditofrito

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Thanks for all the suggestions. Your opinions on the Cooler Master PSU and OCZ SSD are duly noted. If I am looking to upgrade to the three monitor setup in the future will just adding a second 1.5GB 580 do the job? Also, all the memory options you suggested in addition to being only 8GB are DDR3 1600. Is that all the speed I need? Is the 1866 memory not that much faster due to extra latency or something? Perhaps I am not quite understanding what I need to be looking for. Thanks again.
 


If you have plans of going with a triple monitor set up then go with a 3GB card for the extra VRAM. Those MSI Lightnings are the king of the hill atm for 3GB cards. As far as the RAM goes your never going to notice a difference on between 1866 and 1600, but if you can catch a set of 1866 on sale then go for it.
 

branditofrito

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I will still need to SLI that 3GB 580, right? Can a single card support 3 displays?